Once Maine’s legendary seasonal specialty, Hampshire is now available year round. Hampshire has a huge toasted malt flavor balanced by assertive hoppiness. The finish is long and lingering with the malt and hop notes blending with alcohol warmth. Original gravity - 1070; alcohol by volume - 7%; two row English malts (pale, crystal and chocolate); Cascade, Mt. Hood and East Kent Golding hops.

Spot on for the style, this beverage emmits a rich though pale malting. Medium golden coloured body with a generous, intially enormous foamy white head. Above average mouthfeel, themalting is complex and tasty, with a dryish and slightly bitter finish. (252 characters)

T: Initially, I just picked up some peaty scotch malt flavor. But the beer really opens up as it warms, picking up some fruity grape flavors, a bit of alcohol, caramel malt and a slightly bitter finish.

A recent BOTMC arrival. Looks like a buttkicker at 7%, let's give it a whirl. Popping the top I get hints of licorice, brown sugar and molasses. Pours to a deep bronze with a micro-bubble foamy head. The taste is a kicked up brown ale flavor with a nice noble hop bite. The AC is slightly evident in the lingering but smooth bitter finish. Mouthfeel is good with a nice sparky carbonation to augment the hop bite. This is a very high IBU special ale and is indeed quite tasty. A great drinker but the 7% probably sneaks up fast. I think I'll cellar the other two bottles I have and see how it tastes a year from now. (616 characters)

T - sweet malt for a brief moment initially and a herbal, floral and light citrus hop flavor perhaps from a blend of European and American hops but potentially from American versions of European hops; hop bitterness on finish is firm but not harsh; malt is gentle and very supportive with caramel and slight biscuit like flavors; yeasty esters are also present and add a nice dimension

M - moderately high carbonation, full body

D - This is a very interesting beer for sure. I really think it could be marketed as an "Imperial Amber" as I find the hops don't seem to be totally true English hops as the BA classification might imply. Nonetheless, I like and think it's really well done. (751 characters)

Had on cask at Cambridge Common. Deep mahogany color that blended perfectly with the table, topped by the loosest head I've ever seen. I could have dropped a golf ball between the bubbles. At first this had an odd, Flemish-sour bend to it, but that disappeared after it warmed up a bit (relative to its initial temperature). Plenty of hops in the nose, along with vanilla, cherries and a burlappy smell that reminded me of a warm barn. Hops were mild in the taste; malt was dominant with fruit and figs, and the whole thing was very, very dry. Tasty indeed, but I have a suspicion that this might be better a bit colder from a bottle. (634 characters)

Now this does look like an intriguing beer, doesn't it? It pours a clear russet-ruby topped by about a finger or so of light ecru foam, which doesn't hang around to chat very long. The nose comprises vodka-soaked buttery biscuits, light rye bread, and a smidgen of orange rind. Interesting turn; let's see where it leads. The taste strips away some of the booze, which is replaced by a stronger version of the orange peel. Everything else remains fairly static from nose to tongue. (...Now, that's an image, am I right?) The body is on the heavier side of medium, with a light moderate carbonation and a slightly syrupy feel. Overall, an interesting brew, indeed, but not something I can see drinking very much of in the future. (810 characters)

The color is a deep amber and it makes a small head when poured. I liked the finish of the beer, but its tanginess reminded me of many German beers -- rather than British ales (as advertised). (260 characters)

Drinkability-This beer is very one dimensional. All carmel and malt. if you like these flavors, you will like this beer. The carmel is not overwhelming however, so it does go down easy (383 characters)

Presentation: Poured into a pint glass from a 12oz bottle with no dates.

A: Rich copper color with moderate haziness and lacing.

S: Not much there. Some caramel and toasted maltiness. Buttery biscuit.

T&M: Nice mildly sweet maltiness that has a good hoppy kick in there. Smooth with light carbonation and a medium to full body. Honey and toffee maltiness with a fruity, citrus hop taste. Ever so mild piney hop bitterness in the background. Excellent!!

I'm originally from New England and was never a huge fan of Geary's Pale Ale, but this stuff is INCREDIBALLY GOOD! (574 characters)

What a beautiful pour. With the yellow label I was not expecting the dark amber pour. head was creamy eggshell, 3/4 inch. Dissipated quickly, but not quickly enough to keep me from getting that great creamy first sip through it. Soft grass and citrus in the nose, with definite caramel maltiness. velvety mouth feel and orange peel flavor fade into a delicious fresh grass and faint alcohol on the exhale. My favorite Geary's for sure. (435 characters)

What an exceptional beer. I have to admit I'm a very amateur beer drinker, and have drank more PBR than anything else.

But Geary's HSA is by far my favorite. I drink it straight from the bottle, the smell is amazing, it makes my mouth water after one sniff.

The taste is really exceptional. It's quite heavy, and it lingers in your mouth pleasantly after each sip. Drinkability is great, I love knocking a few of these back with buds, though it is a bit heavy.

Take my review with a grain of salt - I am not very experienced. But this is the best beer I've ever had. (571 characters)

A- An aggressive pour yielded a 3/4" foamy biscuit-colored head, which slowly receded to a diffuse head with little traces of lacing. The body was a semi-opaque dark amber color with no visible signs of carbonation.

T- Starts with a bit of the stewed malt flavor, but quickly evolves to feature the light fruit esters. Midway, a touch of fusel alcohols come into play, which are met with some mild hop bitterness in the dry finish. Much dryer than anticipated.

M- Thin body, with its only texture derived from the mildly abrasive carbonation. Moderate astringency further detracts from the mouthfeel.

D- Average drinkability is affected by the evident alcohol and astringency. (781 characters)

Pours a deep slightly hazy amber with a finger or so of off-white head. This sticks around for a brief moment before disappearing into a skim and a bubbly collar. A few small spots of wet lacing here and there.

Pleasant, if uninspiring, caramel nose with background notes of overripe apples and fresh bread. A bit of fig newtons in there. Flavors are more lively, apple Jolly Ranchers with caramel and a hint of black pepper. Sounds weird, but works pretty well.

Appearance: Moderate pour yields a 1/3 inch white head that disappears immediately leaving no lacing. Pours a rather dark, semi-translucent copper. Leaves one or two streaks of short-lasting lacing.

Smell: Raisin bread and banana bread. Not "bready with a banana note," but the aroma of that nice, gooey, broken middle at the top of a hot, fresh loaf of banana bread. Really excellent note to find in the smell of a beer. There's also some malty sweetness, and as the beer warms some vague, scattered fruit notes come out.

Taste: Subdued herbal hops and some mild but rich bready malt, caramel, banana bread, raisin and fig. Some noticeable alcohol, and a bit more hop bitterness than one might expect, but neither are intrusive. Really good flavors, with nothing distracting or off. Great balance as well. I think these flavors could go deeper, and there could be a bit more going on, but as is this is a solid English strong ale. One particularly pleasing aspect of the flavor is that so many malty, fruity notes come up but the sweetness level is perfectly restrained; it's never sugary (or chalky), and doesn't even approach too sweet.

I strongly considered grading the flavor at least 4.5, because the balance is spot on and the flavors are, again, very good. However, i think the flavor could develop a bit more; the depths of this beer are plumbed within a few sips. I also think these (good) notes could be more distinct (as in the smell), and better. Still, not much to complain about here.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, and creamy almost to the point of chewy. Moderate carbonation.

Drinkability: Very good. No aspect of the taste builds up intolerably, nor do any of the flavors dull or become hidden. Would have no complaints throwing several of these back at a time, and intend to have it again in the future.

I'm a definite sucker for banana bread, so this beer had me from the start, really. While technically this beer suffers from the flaw of "smells better than it tastes," it tastes good enough. (2,083 characters)

This beer pours a murky brown color. The head is one inch in height, and recedes slowly into nice lacing. The aroma is of molasses, hints of dark chocolate, and caramel. There is no detectable hop presence. This is a rather simple aroma, yet I still find it really appealing. The taste is much like the aroma. It is very malty, but I can sense that there are some hops in there. They don't really come through in the flavor, but there add some balance to this beer. How ever small a hop presence it might be without it I would easily confuse this beer with a Wee Heavy. The mouthfeel is medium-full bodied with moderate carbonation, and a velvety texture. Overall, this is a nice beer that I will certainly drink again. I am a big fan of IPAs that have enough malt to add complexity. I feel this beer a lot like those beers in that it is a malt bomb but with enough hops to add complexity. (889 characters)

L: Pours a reddish amber color with a medium sized and medium bodied off white colored head that laces the glass nicely as it fades.S: Smells of sweet roasted malts, then some caramel and toffee sweetness followed by a dark vinous fruit aroma. Slight hop aroma at the end of the nose.T: Tastes of sweet roasted malts, some caramel flavors followed by a nice mix of vinous fruits, some alcohol flavor, and some toffee as well. Really intriguing taste.M: Rich, somewhat sweet, a littler thicker bodied than it looks and the perfect amount of carbonation.D: Pretty drinkable but the abv is a bit high and the alcohol has a somewhat more prevalent flavor than I would have liked, but still overall a good beer. (710 characters)

Intense fruity aroma: cherries and candy apple primarily. Some toasted malt seeping out from the candied sweetness. Taste has the candied fruit carryover but with and underlying swampy bitter and cherry wood polish booze. A little slick on the tongue. Buttery Ringwood aftertaste.

A - A steady pour delivers a golden, reddish brown body with a frothy off white head that is about a finger and a half thick. The body is extremely translucent with little carbonation visibly rising to the top. Good head retention, minutes after pouring there is a nice lace.

S - There is a nice combination of malts that welcome your nose initially. A deeper whiff brings on the dark fruit, plums, figs, cherries, and others. Hops seem to be toned back and combine with the alcohol to create somewhat boozy bitter smell. Nothing awful though.

T - Much like the smell. There is plenty of malts present, which I expected. Fruit notes of figs, cherries, plums and apricots show up subtly, but make it enjoyable. A sweet aspect that I did not smell has shown up, it's almost a bready honey type flavor that is excellent. Slight alcohol taste but nothing terrible.

M - Medium bodied with a good amount of carbonation. Entering the mouth there is plenty of malts, followed by the fruit aspects (figs, apricots, plums, cherries). Carbonation enters and provides a smooth transition to the bready honey notes. They don't seem to completely mask the alcohol though, and what you are left with is slightly grainy and boozy finish.

D - This is an interesting style of beer and one that I think I could enjoy quite a bit. I like that many of the barleywine aspects are present but simply toned back. At only 7% abv I think the alcohol taste could be hidden better. Overall, though I am glad I have a six pack of this to store away for a rainy day. (1,577 characters)